//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Derpy's box // by Vidhwansak //------------------------------// Epilogue "So, are there any questions that you still need answered, you two?" Luna asked as the story came to a close. Twilight nodded, and tilted her head slightly in an adorable, yet questioning way. "Whatever happened to Derpy?" Luna flinched slightly at the question, and it took nothing less than draining her entire teacup in one go before she responded, in a rather sad tone of voice. "Derpy was distraught despite the calming, reassuring words of the Elements, and spent many days and nights thinking about what she had done because of her curiosity. She would often look to the stars in her self inflicted punishment, and wonder out loud about what was beyond this world when she thought one of us couldn't hear her. One day, completely out of the blue, she strode up to us, and bluntly said that she would be leaving." Celestia took a small nibble from a muffin, and then began to cradle her teacup in her hooves, trying to savor what little tea she had while continuing where Luna left off. "She said that her curiosity would do us no good, here, since everything in this world at this time was of no interest to her, but the stars...Those where things that captured her curiosity and had her thinking. What I saw, however, was more than just a silly pony thinking about the could-beens and what-ifs. I saw a pony serious about her words, far from the innocence that she once was. The most disturbing and wonderful thing about her, though..." "Her eyes were straight," Luna broke in suddenly, causing her sister to look at her with minor irritation, but she said nothing as Luna continued. "Her eyes were straight and focused on us, no longer the funny eyes that wandered around lazily. That was the most unnerving sight my eyes have ever graced upon to this day...Her eyes were straight. Gone, was the innocence she had, replaced with this fiery glint that said that she was ready to go off alone and take care of herself. "She claimed that she was going to travel to the stars, my stars, and see what interesting things she could find; I tried to tell her that it was a fruitless endeavor, that she would merely be wasting her time by flying up to my stars, but she refused to listen to my words. She left us that very night, when the stars were their brightest, and bid us farewell before she made her journey. We have not seen her since then, so long ago." "I...See. Wow." Twilight flattened her ears slightly, saddened by the image she was picturing. "Do you think she's still out there, wandering among your stars?" Luna hesitated in giving an answer, and when she did, it was with a sad smile upon her face. "There are times when I am communicating with my stars that I feel the slightest hint of another among my stars; of something that should not be there, yet feels so comforting in its presence. Whether that's Derpy or not, I do not know. I like to think that it is her, however, enjoying the beauty of my stars and doing who knows what out there." After a long moment of silence between them, Celestia spoke up quietly. "You know the rest of the story, Twilight; we gathered the Elements and sealed Discord in stone the first time after a long and hard battle, created life and took a back seat to watch over them, which then paved the way for the Equestrian history you have learnt about in other tales. "On a slightly related note, it's not easy, walking by Discord's statue in the gardens. It reminds me of my past mistakes, and it especially reminds me about Derpy. While I do not regret creating her, I do regret having made her for such a despicable purpose. "However, as much as I would like to continue on babbling about my feelings, Twilight, Ditsy, I do believe you have a train to catch; it'll be dark soon, and I think tea time is over." Luna snorted, and reached for the last muffin, only to be beaten to the punch by Ditsy. She sighed, and settled for flicking more crumbs at her sister, who scowled at her. "So soon, Tia? Sharing one story and that is the end of tea time? Why must it be cut so short?" "We do have duties to attend to as well, sister, and would you please stop flicking crumbs at me?" "No. Such news saddens me enough to flick muffin crumbs at my sister." Twilight and Ditsy both got off their chairs, and curtsied to the princesses; after the polite gesture, Twilight spoke her piece. "Thank you for allowing us to share this time with you, Celestia, Luna." Ditsy spoke up after her. "Yes, thank you! It was rather interesting to know that there's a pony out there, somewhere, with my 'nickname' as her name, and what she did!" Both sisters smiled, and they, too, got off their chairs. "It was wonderful to spend the time with you, Twilight Sparkle, Ditsy," began Luna, "I would not mind if you were to 'drop in', so to speak, here again to listen to some more stories over tea; it would do me well to take me away from Prince Blueblood." She shuddered at the mere mention of his name, and sighed, clearly showing her distaste of him. "Almost anything would be better than spending time with him." With that remark in the air, Luna began walking away back to the castle. Celestia rolled her eyes, and walked up to Twilight, giving her a hug that was quickly returned. "She gets annoyed too easily; ah, well, I suppose even I get annoyed with the prince as well at times, so I can't blame her. Anyway, forget about that, and have a good night, my faithful student." "You too, princess." Celestia pulled away from the hug with a slight frown on her face. "I thought you agreed to not add the 'princess' title when we're among friends?" Twilight blushed, and backed out of the hug in shame. "I-I'm sorry, Celestia." The princess gave a short chuckle that was interrupted by Ditsy. "Um, I don't want to sound rude, but I think we're about to miss the train..." The next day Spike whistled to himself as he was given another set of chores by Twilight, who, after being interested in last night's story, began to look through older tales that the princess' may have had a hoof in, whether directly or indirectly, and planned to discuss these stories with them over some more tea at a later date. Her train of thought stopped at the station early, however, when a light knocking disturbed her thoughts. Curious, she opened up the door to reveal none other than Ditsy, holding up a box. "Delivery! One box for Twilight Sparkle! It also came with a letter addressed to the both of us! Strange, huh?" The pegasus set the box down on a table, then offered Twilight a letter that indeed had both their names addressed on it. "I haven't read it yet, so read it to me, Twilight!" Perplexed, the unicorn took a look at the letter, and levitated said letter over to her. After clearing her throat and removing the letter from the envelope it was in, she began to read the letter aloud. Dear Twilight Sparkle and Ditsy Hooves (If she is there), I've found the box! Although that in itself is a tale that my dear sister Luna would love to relay to you, that's for another time. The box enclosed in the box is none other than Derpy's box; you won't be able to mistake it for any other box despite its looks, but you'll know what I mean when you see it; just open it, and...Well, that'd be ruining the surprise. Please, while the box itself isn't important anymore and is indestructible by any means, it can still be lost, and we both don't have the time to search across Equestria for a box. It holds quite a bit of sentimental value to Luna and I, so we both hope that you'll keep the box safe for however long you wish to keep it. Other than the fact that I wish you to see the box, there really isn't much to do with it. It's an empty box; it's beautiful, but there's absolutely nothing of interest inside of it, so I think you'll be sending it back to us soon anyway. Sincerely, Princess Celestia After reading the letter out loud, she looked at the box, and smiled, clearly happy at the chance to see something so endearing to the princess'. "Huh. So, this is Derpy's box, huh? Spike, Spike! I need you over here for something special!" A muffled "Coming!" Was heard, and Spike ran out from the kitchen with some gem crumbs on his face. After taking a moment to look at her assistant critically, she levitated a napkin over. Realizing what she was going to do, Spike vainly tried to wipe his mouth, but nevertheless, Twilight fussed over him. "Twilight, Ditsy's watching!" "How many times do I have to tell you not to eat so messily?!" "It's just a few crumbs!" "Just stop squirming so much...There! Now, Spike, I just need you to open this box." His eyes traveled over the box, and he sighed as he jumped up onto the table. "More books, Twilight? Didn't we just order some last week?" "Oh, these aren't books. It has a box in it." "...A box...Inside a box? "This isn't just any box, this is a very, very special box!" "That's inside another box. Why, exactly?" "It's a priceless sentimental treasure to the princess'!" "...Okay." Unconvinced, the dragon began to cut the box open with a sharp knife carefully; Twilight and Ditsy had a few minutes of speculation of what the box would look like as he worked. Ditsy thought the box would be covered in beautiful jewels and gold plating, making it tempting to open; In contrast, Twilight thought that the box would look something a little more subtle and practical, but no less eye-catching, such as a steel box laid with magical enchantments. After all, it held Discord and the Elements! Both, however, were disappointed when Spike pulled out a wooden box that looked like it was colored roughly on with crayon without any sense of color coordination. Twilight couldn't comprehend how Discord could be encased in a 'box' like this; a simple wooden box wouldn't have held him inside. Apparently, Ditsy thought the same, because she touched it gently with a frown on her face. "Is this really the box, Twilight? It doesn't look so...Special." "I...Guess it is. Princess Celestia said that we wouldn't be able to mistake it for any other box, so there's probably something inside of it that could convince us that this isn't your normal box. Do you want to open it, Ditsy?" The pegasus' eyes lit up at the thought of opening up a box that belonged to the princess', and smiled at the unicorn happily, which was more than enough of an answer. Spike placed the box down on the table, and wondered why anypony would be excited to open a box, especially this one. "Oh, this is exciting! This must have what Derpy must have felt like when she knew she was going to open up the box!" Twilight nodded slowly, and even Spike leaned in, interested in what the box held inside. Slowly, Ditsy opened up the box... With a long bang that could put Luna's royal voice to shame, out came confetti, streamers, fake snakes and all sorts of silly things that one might find in a prank, which was what this probably was; her library now rivaled anything that Pinkie's party cannon could pull off and put the cannon to shame. Spike sighed as he tried to untangle himself from a few rolls of streamers that seemed to have immobilize him when he saw a letter fluttering in the air. Reaching out with a hand, he just barely managed to grab the letter, and opened it, reading it out loud to the dazed unicorn and likewise entangled pegasus in an unamused tone. Dear Twilight Sparkle (And Ditsy Hooves if she hasn't flown off in surprise), Gotcha! I apologize for the prank, but I felt like adding a surprise to the box. Yes, in case you have any doubts, that messily drawn on box is indeed Derpy's box. The box has one other special property other than being indestructible, and that property is the fact that you can store anything inside the box, without limit. In theory, that is; I have never found out just how much the box could hold because the way how the box seems to have been designed has made it so that any items you put into the box will all come out of the box at the same time, or will, at least, attempt to, in the case of the Elements of Harmony appearing after Discord when the box opened a second time. Due to this somewhat dangerous quality of the box, I ask that you return the box after you have done whatever it is that you wish to do to it, Twilight. This box could be used for the wrong reasons, assuming somepony else grabs hold of this box, so it is vital that you do not tell anypony what the box can do; just state that it is an old box from your fillyhood, and you should be fine. Sincerely, Princess Celestia It was true, then. She had Derpy's box, right there in the library with her! If she was going to get any experiments on the box done, however, she was going to have to get rid of all the confetti, streamers and everything else Celestia had packed into the box that were now decorating the library as a result of Celestia's prank. "...Spike, help us clean up the library." The dragon groaned as he finally freed himself from the streamers, and looked around the library in despair. "I just cleaned the area too."